Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Arkells, Universal Music Canada 2022.
I knew nothing about Arkells before this album.
Apparently, they are one of the biggest rock acts in Canada and a cursory listen to this album shows why they’ve been signed by the largest label in the country.
Blink Twice is the companion piece to its sister album Blink Once and both albums were written during the pandemic.
As the band were writing and producing the songs, they knew they’d produced more than one album of material and both albums can be seen as an individual artistic expression as well as united companion pieces.
Blink Once has so far amassed more than 50 million streams and the label is anticipating a similar response to this album.
The lead single Past Life (featuring Cold War Kids) has topped the alternative radio charts in Canada.
Six of the 10 tracks on the album contain guest artists, more than any other album they’ve ever released, and the band see this as them developing as an entity.
Front man Max Kerman puts it this way “You can either move through life and grow stubborn or you can grow curious.”
They’ve chosen the curious path, learning from and adapting to new ideas that collaboration brings.
With the world opening up after the disruptions of the last few years the band has been hanging out to play these new songs in front of live audiences.
“We always knew that they’d (the songs) would make more sense to us once we played them in the real world.”
Arkells are currently touring, including a gig in the UK that promises to be their biggest London show ever.
The show is scheduled on the release day for the album. Kerman comments: “There is no better city in the world to let these songs start living their own life.”
